At the 2009 Academy Awards there was an upset in the 'Foreign Language Film' category. Before the ceremony most viewers were betting on either The Class or Waltz With Bashir to beat out the other three nominees, which included Revanche, The Baader Meinhoff Complex, and the eventual winner, Departures.
After the film's surprise win many were quite vocally opposed to the film's win, claiming it to be an example of the Academy's failure to take risks and be some modicum of political or cutting edge. While Waltz With Bashir was groundbreaking and fairly controversial, and The Class was more popular and more widely seen, there's got to be a reason that Departures won, right?
Well, yeah...
Departures (or Okuribito, it's original Japanese title) is a slow burning, understated human drama that excels at nearly everything it tries.
..
That's worth something, right?
I recently had a chance to see this film at a wonderful second-run theater in London, The Prince Charles Cinema. Nestled in the theater's downstairs screening auditorium, enjoying the plush red velvet seats and the calm of a Friday night theater-going crowd... well actually location, with this film, doesn't matter; Yôjirô Takita's film needs no verbose praise. It manages to take viewers somewhere new and expose beauty in something rather morbid.
The film centers on a young cellist, Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), who is forced to quit cello and move from Tokyo back to his small hometown in rural Japan after his orchestra is dissolved. His loving young wife Mika (Ryoko Hirosue) is nothing but supportive of this major life shift, and the two slowly begin forming a new life.
Everything seems idyllic at first, but the job that Daigo lands is anything but. After responding to an ad that advertises a position working with "Departures," Daigo finds himself the assistant to a man who practices encoffinment, the art of preparing a dead body for burial or cremation.
From here the film follows a pretty straightforward course, but even if viewers can guess the ending (and they can, don't worry; this is one of the main faults that many critics have found with Departues) it's still a joy to watch the characters get there.
The film is an absolute joy. The usual critical catchwords and phrases apply here: heart warming, life-affirming, beautiful, joyous, etc. Some may be turned off by just how schmaltzy it is, but if you don't mind some good-old-fashioned feel good drama, there's nothing to be worried about.
Two things really stood out, however. The first was the way in which the dramatic (and often the melodramatic) was blended with the comic. While Departures may not be a laff-a-minute movie, there certainly are a number of knee slappers throughout, which, while sometimes quite welcome, can be quite jarring. Oddly, however, the comedy all but disappears about 3/4 of the way through the film (maybe 1/2 way through) leaving a serious (sometimes to the point of a fault) third act.
The second (and third; ok, I lied) things that caught me was how beautifully the film is shot, and how the theme of music was carried through it. Director Takita definitely understood the source material (the film is based on a memoir), and added his own stylistic and artistic spin to it. I have no idea if the original Daigo was a cellist, but Masahiro Motoki studied the cello and the art of encoffinment for the role, and brings the two to a perfect parallel, bringing out and highlighting the musicality in the sacred ritual.
Departures may have been controversial as the winner of the Academy Award for "Best Foreign Language Film," but it was only controversial because it wasn't objectionable. For a safe, pleasant, touching time, Departues is a perfect viewing destination.
P.S. Sorry, couldn't resist the pun. It was a slow pitch and I swung at it.
-Mitchell Geller
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